"Y-You think it's possible?" Avankor asked in disbelief. Sure, he had been aware that Havon might offer some hope for the future. But he hadn't thought that it would be so soon.
"Every battle is winnable," Lucius said almost tiredly. After all, he knew this fact all too well. He had beaten what seemed unbeatable.
"You said you closed the surface entrance, does that mean you have no troops on the outside?" he asked after some thought.
"Only a few men who volunteered to look for food... it's been hard feeding the dens," Avankor replied.
"Death missions..." Lucius said plainly. However he admired their valiance, this meant that morale wasn't completely destroyed.
"So that means there are back entrances then?"
"A few that we can collapse at any time," Avankor replied.
"Good, we'll need them. Do we have any information on the units the necromancer has, perhaps information on every possible creature he may have turned? I doubt they keep all their natural abilities, but it'll be essential for the task forces I want to create," Lucius said in a commanding tone. He didn't mean to sound so presumptuous in territory that wasn't his, but it was a force of habit.
"Necromancer? Task force? I'm sure that there are pundits here who have studied the various races, but I do not understand what that has to do with anything," Avankor asked in confusion. All this talk was completely new to him.
"The creature we're facing off against is a necromancer. He is able to raise the dead and use them to do his bidding. As for what a task force is; it just means a small specialized group created for a particular cause. For instance, this time around I'll be creating food gathering, intel gathering, and guerilla task forces," Lucius explained.
"Necromancer, huh? That is a more fitting name than THE CREATURE," Avankor whispered to himself, though Lucius could tell from his expression that the second part was still confusing him.
"Do you not already have such specialized groups?" Lucius asked, thinking that perhaps Avankor was confused by the specific groups he had mentioned.
"We have something similar called clans, however, I do not see how making them smaller would be beneficial. Wouldn't that just lower the strength of those groups?" Avankor asked after thinking for some time.
~Ahh, I forgot, strategy must not be a widely used concept here. For the lower-tier creatures at least,~ Lucius realized.
"Hmm, how best do I explain this," he whispered, before bending over to draw something on the ground.
"Let's say me and you are at war... and I have conquered all the territory surrounding your kingdom," he began explaining, drawing a picture of it in the soil.
"If I wanted to gather food from the areas that you have taken over, which would be more ideal? Sending a group of 30 men, or sending a group of 7 men?" he asked, drawing a big and a small circle to represent the two groups respectively.
"30 men of course. This group will be stronger so they can deal with any threats that they encounter, and they can carry more food back," Avankor replied hesitantly.
"Okay. Let's say you were the enemy king, do you think 30 men traveling in your lands would go unnoticed?" Lucius asked.
It took a moment, but Avankor nodded his head in sudden understanding.
"I see, so your intent is to not be discovered. But isn't that hopeful thinking? What if you are noticed? 7 men won't possibly be able to fight against enemy forces," Avankor replied.
These were the type of men Lucius liked to work with. Avankor reminded him of Hannibal. Asking questions was a true sign of understanding.
"And do you think 30 men will be able to fight against the enemy units? When we send men into heavily guarded enemy territory, it's unlikely that they will come back," Lucius explained.
Avankor paused for a moment, surprised at the cold-bloodedness that Lucius was displaying. How could he speak of his own men so lightly? Of course, Avankor understood the concept well. It was better to lose 7 men as opposed to 30, but even still.
"So probability-wise, it's better to send 4 groups of 7, rather than 30," Lucius continued explaining, apparently unaware of how cold he was being.
"And there is the added benefit that smaller groups can escape much easier than bigger ones. So even if they do encounter a threat, they don't have to fight against them," he added towards the end.
"I see, that's why you want to divide the groups!" Avankor shouted in realization. To him, this made much more sense than speaking as if his men were going to die. Realistically speaking, this would give his men a bigger chance of survival as well.
"Ahh, so you finally get it."
"I will call Shavak so he can hear about this... what did you it?"
"Strategy," Lucius replied.
"Strategy," Avankor repeated, before rushing out of the room to find Shavak. The 6-foot-tall being rushing around was quite a funny sight. Perhaps in a different world Lucius would've laughed.
A short while later, Shavak returned with seven other Chame warriors, all of them dressed in what Lucius figured was the equivalent of an official's attire.
"Havon," Shavak said, nodding at Lucius in greeting, a hint of anger visible on his face. Avankor had warned Shavak that Lucius didn't remember anything, but Shavak was still wary of him.
"I take it the plan was explained to you?" Lucius asked, looking up at the 5'8 king.
"These are the pundits of my kingdom," Shavak said, gesturing towards the Chame warriors standing behind him.
"Only seven? That means we can only make seven task forces at most," Lucius whispered, before drawing something else on the ground.
"Wait, you mean to take these men to battle? They haven't fought a day in their life, what use will they be in war?" Shavak asked defensively. To him, Lucius was sentencing his best scholars to certain death.
"Each task force will need someone with intel on the possible enemies we might encounter. It'll be easier for the task forces to make decisions if they know what they're going up against," Lucius explained briefly before going back to his drawing.
"See, he's qualifications are way higher than ours. He's like-- like a pundit King," Avankor whispered, excited at the prospect of fighting alongside Lucius.
You see, unlike human kingdoms, the kings of these races were chosen based on fighting ability. The strongest fighters evolved into guardians and were named kings, besides that they had no other qualifications.
For a king, fighting was the best thing in the world. So to Avankor, all these 'strategies' Lucius was talking about opened his mind to a new sort of fighting.
Fighting the 'smart' way.
